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Thursday, January 22, 2015

I'm glad the weather is warming back up (from 70 to 80) so that I can resume my smoothie regime. I really despise the "kitchen sink" method of making smoothies, so when I come up with a good combo, I gotta share. This one is my Pine-Orange smoothie.

Here's your ingredients:

1. Put all your dry ingredients in the blender. Blend until smooth.

2. Add your fruit, frozen yogurt and liquids. Honey goes in last so it doesn't stick to the side of the blender. (Yes, I use a good old blender. Nothing fancy.)

3. Blend it all together. Serve in a glass with a straw for ultimate pleasure.

Monday, January 12, 2015

I LOVE browsing through motion picture soundtracks. I LOVE choreographing to them and I'd LOVE to throw an event where all my favorite tracks set the mood. It would have to be some kind of soirée at dusk in a forest with twinkle lights and everyone wearing bohemian lace and sitting on wooden pews. Vines growing as the party was happening, so much so they were actually growing up people's legs, and they loved it. I digress.

Here are my top 5 picks for songs. Maybe once you hear them you'll understand that ridiculous tirade about magical vibes and twinkle lights a little better.

1. Duchess of Windsor, by Abel Korzeniowski from the motion picture W.E.

2. Once Upon A Dream, by Lana Del Rey from the motion picture Malificent

Friday, January 2, 2015

These are the kinds of pieces I love. When they come about in an almost serendipitous way.

I threw this piece in the back of my jeep on our first Saturday back on Kauai in August. Since I normally work Saturdays, my garage saling time is limited to the few Saturdays I get off throughout the year. The carved flowers and lime green seat made it difficult for me to picture this piece in any color other than 70s orange. But I'm not crazy, so I let it sit until I could think realistically.

About 4 months later I went downstairs and my husband had given this piece a good sanding. I convinced him to paint it in a Martha Stewart metallic glaze color called coffee. He wanted to prime it, I wouldn't let him.

Well after 2 coats of metallic glaze, it was looking pretty bling-a-licious. I went down the next day and he had sanded it almost all off, save all of the crevices. It looked awesome!

It was about 4:00pm and a package of fabric had just come from fabric.com. I was bummed cause it was all canvas/upholstery grade, when I thought I had ordered 100% cotton for my headbands. My disappointment was short lived when I realized the feather print was perfect for this chair!

We put on the new fabric and a few coats of wax and this piece was done.

I'm so glad it's not retro orange.

I absolutely love valets and don't think people understand how useful they really are. They have one spot to hold your keys, phone, jewelry, watch, etc., and then a spot to hang your jacket or to throw a pair of pants over it. This one has a seat, perfect for sitting down to tie your shoes or set down your purse. If everyone had one of these next to their beds, the bedroom would be 100% more orderly. My husband actually has one and he loves it.

This one is for sale for $125. Local Kauai pick up only. Email me if you're interested, or go straight to the Etsy listing here.

-And perhaps my biggest goal, which I set at the start of the year-- Ivy & Co. is now in 6 different retail shops on Maui, Kauai and Portland!

With all that said, there are still 10 other posts that had more page views than any other this year!

Let's break it down.

#1 - After visiting family in Oklahoma and Arkansas last Thanksgiving, I brought home a few old train cases, and added them to my collection. The #1 post of 2014: How To Recover A Vintage Train Case.

#2 - My cousin had this Mid Century Modern side table sitting in her carport for a while. She gave it to me and it turned out to be a pretty neat makeover. It sold within 6 hours of me posting it on Instagram!

#3 - So we were looking at houses to buy on Maui, and I came across this Antique Dresser in one of them. Kit went back later and bought the dresser for me, not the house. I was perfectly fine with that!

#5 - People loved hearing about my journey into Maui Children's Bookstore. This shop is directly across from my workplace (a dance studio) on Maui, so I think a lot of my readers liked seeing a familiar spot on my blog, and there's also a little bit of an awe factor that they're carrying Ivy & Co.!

Thursday, December 11, 2014

I promise you're going to love these Christmas songs. They aren't going to make you want to pull your hair out or put on ugly sweaters. They're going to put you in the right frame of mind for the season!

1. Hark The Herald Angel Sing, by Rend Collective

2. Wrapped In Red, by Kelly Clarkson

3. Christmas Coming Home, by Lennon & Maisy

4. O Holy Night, by Shane & Shane

5. Ave Maria, by Christina Perri

Once you've added those tracks to your Holiday '14 playlist, come join me, my sis-in-law and some friends for a lady's night of shopping! It will be held at KUGA Visual Arts this Tuesday.

Have you seen the latest product in my ETSY SHOP? You be the designer of your next Ivy & Co. head band! Choose your size, a fabric or two, I'll sew it up and mail it to you. Simple!

Check out all the fabric choices:

Also, for my REAL job as a dance instructor, I have a few friends coming to Maui this January to put on an amazing workshop for Hawaii dancers. Hip hop, contemporary and jazz master classes for all ages. These guys are the real deal. Are you an avid SYTYCD watcher? You may recognize Nathan Trasoras on the left from a couple seasons back!

If you answered yes or 3 to any of these questions, then of course you remember the reigning Girl Group's hit, "When 2 Become 1." As an adult, I can't believe how inappropriate the lyrics are! But as someone who restores furniture, I think it's a highly appropriate title for the 2 dining tables I picked up, that became 1.

Well, when we moved to Kauai, we had to leave our beloved dining table behind:

And this is what we used in the meantime. It was part of the outdoor patio furniture that was here when we moved in. We threw a table cloth over it.

For weeks and weeks I searched for something to replace it. Kit's one condition was that we had to have a round table. I kept seeing these two sad tables at the Habitat for Humanity Restore. One had a solid wood top, and the other had a solid wood vintage bamboo style base. One week I went in and they were heavily discounted. So I bought both and threw them in my jeep!

The top that went with the Bamboo base just crumbled off (good ole particle board). The rolling base of the one with the wood top was breaking into pieces as I unscrewed it.

Of course, I painted them black. A little chalk paint... a little Typewriter Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint… a bunch of sanding… a few coats of wax...

I wanted to make sure the base was put on really well, so I solicited Kit's help.

I love it when Milk Paint is drying. So glossy.

It was so nice to bring it in and finally have a real dining table in our home!

Isn't the base gorgeous? That thick bamboo pedestal. Love it.

The wax needed to cure for a week or so, so I kept a table cloth on it at first, and went out to our new (and only) Ross Store on island and bought cute placemats. But now, it's very durable and we love it.